Mark A. Sadd
Mark A. Sadd maintains a diverse commercial, transactional, corporate law, administrative, litigation and appellate practice with emphasis on real estate, real estate development, real estate title, real estate litigation, coal, oil and gas, energy development, eminent domain and condemnation, common interest communities, servitudes, eminent domain, historic preservation, leasing, entitlements and land use litigation.
Sadd represents multi-family, commercial, mixed-use and mineral projects of all sizes. His mineral practice includes complex commercial and mineral titles, including for surface, leasehold, oil and gas, CBM and coal estates.
He is an experienced litigator in matters concerning real property title, boundaries, common interest communities, rights of way and other real property interests.
Mr. Sadd has served as counsel to local governments, developers and community groups in land use matters before local planning and zoning commissions, and historic landmark commissions, boards of zoning appeals, circuit court and the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
Mr. Sadd leads the firm’s sizeable community, unit and home owners association practice. He is a member of the Community Associations Institute.
He represents commercial developers, multi-family developers and affordable housing developers employing the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, the U.S. and West Virginia Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit programs and other public capital grant and tax credit programs.
Mr. Sadd is a 1992 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. He is a 196 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Virginia.
He is a fellow of both the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (www.acrel.org) and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (www.acmaatty.org).
Mr. Sadd is listed The Best Lawyers in America® in Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law and in Zoning & Land Use Law and West Virginia SuperLawyers® in Real Property Law, Real Estate Litigation and Land Use & Zoning and Eminent Domain.
Mr. Sadd is an agent and approved and authorized attorney of First American Title Insurance Company, Old Republic National Title Insurance Company and Stewart Title Guaranty Company.
He led the creation of the Charleston Historic Landmarks Commission. He drafted the 1999 legislation creating the West Virginia Residential Rehabilitation Income Tax Credit and in 2017 was the principal drafter of amendments to the West Virginia Rehabilitation Tax Credit increasing it to 25 percent.
He has served on the board of directors for Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (www.pawv.org), a state-wide historic preservation advocacy and education organization.
In 2005, Mr. Sadd was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve the first of two-four-year terms on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (www.achp.gov). He served on the ACHP’s Executive, Policy and Budget and Office of Federal Program Committees. He chaired the Federal Agency Program Committee that oversees the nation’s regulatory program under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. He co-chaired with the White House Council on Environmental Quality federal guidance on coordinating obligations under Section 106 and the National Environmental Policy Act.
He served one four-year term as a member at large on the city council of Charleston, W. Va. from 2003 through 2007. He chaired the Charleston Human Rights Commission in the 1990s.
Mr. Sadd is a licensed real estate broker in West Virginia.
In addition to his law practice, Mr. Sadd is a principal of Grant Street Commons LLC, a Charleston-based developer of affordable housing that has built nearly 300 multi-family units in Charleston, Clarksburg, Huntington, Fairmont, Martinsburg and Parkersburg.
In 2003, he was a legal adviser to the drafters of the omnibus Land Use and Planning Act codified in chapter 8A of the Code of West Virginia of 1931.
In 2019, Sadd was appointed to the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In Fall 2020, he was elected Chairman-Elect of the National Advisory Council and will succeed to the Chairmanship in 2022.
He is a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem with Star in the Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy.
He is a former director of First Bank of Charleston, Inc.
He is a former director of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce (www.wvchamber.org), the American Red Cross and Junior Achievement
Mr. Sadd is admitted the West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania bars.
He is co-author with Matthew R. Bowles, “Appealing Changes: A Case for Expanding Appellate Review in West Virginia’s Judiciary” in The Rule of Law: Perspectives on Legal and Judicial Reform in West Virginia (The Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia, Russell D. Sobel, ed.) (2009)
He is co-author with Richard L. Gottlieb and Matthew Kingery, West Virginia Section of Oil and Gas Law: Nationwide Comparison of Laws on Leasing, Exploration and Production, First and Second Eds., American Association of Professional Landmen (2011 and 2022)
Reported Cases:
Occidental Petro. v. Tustin, 2024 W. Va. App. LEXIS 213 (ICA 2024)(now pending appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia)
Silver Creek Ass’n, Inc. v. Irby, 909 S.E.2d 844 (ICA 2024)
In re Petition of S.G. for Expungement of Rec., 2024 W. Va. App. LEXIS 381 (ICA 2024)
Mt. Lodge Ass’n v. Snowshoe Mt., Inc., 2024 W. Va. App. LEXIS 25 (ICA 2024)
Lindemuth v. Woods Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., 2024 W. Va. App. LEXIS 287 (ICA 2024)
Justice Holdings, LLC v. Glade Springs Vill. Property Owners Ass’n, 250 W. Va. 563 (2023)
Glade Springs Vill. Prop. Owners Ass’n v. Justice Holdings, LLC, 2023 W. Va. LEXIS 100 (2023)
State v. Beaver, 248 W. Va. 177 (2022) (for amici curiae for Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy and Catholic Education Partners and amicus curiae Goldwater Institute.
State ex rel. W. Va. Acad., Ltd. v. W. Va. Dep’t of Educ., 2021 W. Va. LEXIS 320 (2021)
Birchfield v. Zen’s Dev., LLC, 245 W. Va. 82 (2021)
In re I.S.A., 244 W. Va. 162 (2020)
Husson v. Teays Valley Indus. Park Owners & Users Ass’n, 2016 W. Va. LEXIS 209 (2016)
Hannah v. Tate, 2014 W. Va. LEXIS 1254 (2014)
Pope Props. v. Robinson, 230 W. Va. 382 (2013)
Mayo v. W. Va. Secondary Schs. Activities Comm’n, 223 W. Va. 88 (2008) for amicus curiae for Superintendent of the Department of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.
United Bank, Inc. v. Stone Gate Homeowners Ass’n, 220 W. Va. 375 (2007)
Lower Donnally Ass’n v. Charleston Mun. Planning Comm’n, 212 W. Va. 623 (2002)
McCoy v. Vankirk, 201 W. Va. 718 (1997)
Lectures and Presentations:
“Common Interest Ownership Issues”, 2024 West Virginia Association Real Estate Law Conference, May 2024
“UCIOA litigation”, 2023 West Virginia Bar Association Real Estate Law Conference, May 2023
“Current Issues in the World of Common Interest Ownership” 2022 West Virginia Bar Association Real Estate Law Conference, May 2022
“Strategic Cannabis Conference 2019”, West Virginia University College of Law (Land use aspects), March 2019
“West Virginia Cannabis Law & Business Conference 2017” (Land use aspects), Mountain State Education, October 2017
“Landlord-Tenant in West Virginia”, Sterling Education, January 2015
“Redevelopment and Historic Preservation in West Virginia”, West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, June 2013
“Historic Preservation and Land Use Law in West Virginia’, American Institute of Certified Planners, September 2012
“Marcellus Shale in West Virginia”, W. Va. University College of Law Continuing Legal Education, June 2011
West Virginia Auctioneers Association, continuing education, 2007
Real Estate Transactions,” National Business Institute, June 2006
West Virginia Auctioneers Association, continuing education, 2006
West Virginia Planning Association Annual Conference, 2004
West Virginia Press Association convention, 2003 and 2004
“Understanding the 2004 West Virginia Land Use Act,” Lorman, July and August 2004.
“Legal Issues Involving West Virginia Local Governments”, National Business Institute, December 2003
“Land Use Law in West Virginia”, Lorman, December 2002
“Real Estate and Land Use: Emerging Trends”, W. Va. University Continuing Legal Education, June 2000
“West Virginia Growth Management and Land Use Law”, National Business Institute, April 2000
Mr. Sadd represents diverse national and local clients in commercial and residential real estate development, real estate title, real estate development, real estate financing and real estate litigation. He leads the law firm’s prominent community and homeowners association practice focusing on all aspects of association governance, management and financing. He represents owners in state and location taxation. He regularly litigates in these areas.
Our attorneys are committed to delivering exceptional legal service and representation across a wide range of practice areas. Whether you need assistance with corporate, real estate, commercial, or transactional matters, our team is here to help.
